The popular Charity Turf Challenge offers punters the chance to win R100,000 as well as a R20,000 stand alone prize on Vodacom Durban July day and the deadline for entries is 17h30 this Friday.

This fun competition can be entered online at http://www.racingsa.com/ or manually at both Tote outlets and on the racecourse.

Rabada (Nkosi Hlophe)

Class prevails and points gathered in Gr 1 and Gr 2 races are the key to success. Furthermore, the winners of the Tsogo Sun Sprint, the Rising Sun Gold Challenge, the Vodacom Durban July and the eLan Gold Cup earn five bonus points each.

In the three-year-old colt division many will think of Triple Crown hero Abashiri as an automatic entry. However, he is likely to have only one race during the SA Champions Season, the July.

It might be wiser to look for horses who are going to run in all of the classic races. Rabada is an obvious example.

The three-year-old fillies, and older fillies, should be seriously considered to have a lot of weight in numbers, because there are many opportunities open to them. A versatile horse like Lanner Falcon, who is effective from sprints up to middle distances, could accumulate many place and possibly win points, while classic fillies like Bela-Bela and Silver Mountain should also do so.

A male sprinter is probably an important inclusion, but difficult to choose because the Tsogo Sprint is a handicap, meaning a light weight winner will battle to earn further points in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint. Furthermore, the Mercury Sprint looks to be at the mercy of Carry On Alice, who should also win the SA Fillies Sprint.

Some stayers events have been downgraded this year, but it might still might be worth including a horse on the up like Solar Star.

Shrewdies will have a horse for the open Gr 2’s and the Gr 1 Champions Cup as points gatherer of this type could make the difference between winning and losing.

By David Thiselton

The Mike de Kock-trained Australian-bred Zaakhira stamped herself as a SA Champions Season horse to be reckoned with when slamming a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies in impressive style over 1200m at the Vaal yesterday on her debut.

The Redoute’s Choice filly is out of a Royal Academy mare and after showed high cruising speed pulled clear to win by 7,5 lengths under Callan Murray, despite racing green and changing legs.

Matthew de Kock said, “I’m sure she will be taking her place at some point in Durban.”

She joins the like of Cloth Of Cloud, Exquisite Touch and her stable mate Fursa as Highveld fillies who could make a big impact on the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championship over 1200m at Scottsville’s Festival Of Speed meeting on June 4.

They will be up against the like of the Cape filly The Secret Is Out and KZN fillies like Mygirldownunder.

Interestingly, De Kock’s debut winner of the first race, the Australian-bred More Than Ready colt Act Of Loyalty, won his race under Weichong Marwing in a time 0,3 seconds quicker than Zaakhira and Marwing looked to still have some fuel reserves at the line.

By David Thiselton

Picture: Callan Murray

Met day Listed winner Sergeant Hardy will face only five opponents when Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount bids to give Justin Snaith his third Somerset 1200 success in seven seasons at Kenilworth on Sunday.

Joey Ramsden, who has won the last three runnings (with Red Ray, Kingvoldt and Tar Heel), is doubly represented with previous winners Attenborough (Donovan Dillon) and Gareth Wright’s mount Dancer.

Vaughan Marshall and Riaan van Reenen are the only other trainers represented. The National Racing Bureau rang the other trainers with entries shortly after declarations yesterday morning but found no takers. However the Somerset is no stranger to small fields and in 2011 only five went to post.

The unbeaten Miranda Frost (Dillon) is expected to start hot favourite for the Perfect Promise Sprint on the same card even though the Ramsden-trained filly is up against seven previous winners.

By Michael Clower

Picture: Bernard Fayd’Herbe (Nkosi Hlophe)

National Champion Trainer Sean Tarry has warned that in his opinion Legal Eagle was unlikely to line up for the Vodacom Durban July.

However, the final decision on whether he participates is yet to be discussed with the connections.

Owner Markus Jooste’s racing manager Derek Brugman said in initial discussion with Tarry he had agree the July would probably not be the ideal race for the horse, as he would have to carry 60kg. However, he added there was still two months to go so it was still not known which of Jooste’s horses would line up and which wouldn’t. He said it was too early to start officially declaring horses as “doubtful.”

Sean Tarry

Tarry had another halcyon day at Turffontein’s Champions Day on Saturday, landing three Gr 1s and a Gr 2 as well as a Gr 1 second, a Gr 1 third and a Gr 2 second.

Among the Gr 1 victories was a brilliant performance by Legal Eagle to win the R4 million Premier’s Champions Challenge under Anton Marcus.

The four-year-old Greys Inn gelding has put himself in line to be named Equus Horse Of The Year as that was his third Gr 1 victory of the year. Two of those Gr 1s were weight for age miles and Saturday’s victory over 2000m was a weight for age with Gr 1 and Gr 2 penalties. The other of Legal Eagle’s four career Gr 1 wins was in the SA Derby last season over 2450m.

Not surprisingly Tarry now regards him as among the best he has ever trained.

He said, “National Colour and Mythical Flight were freaks, but Legal Eagle is probably the best classic horse I have ever trained.”

Legal Eagle’s stable companion French Navy bounced back to form in the Premier’s on Saturday. He found his usual strong finish to only just deny Brazuca second place and might move into second place on the July betting boards behind SA Triple Crown hero Abashiri if the bookmakers do list Legal Eagle as doubtful. At present Legal Eagle is favourite at 5/2 with Betting World, Abashiri is 7/2 and French Navy is 14/1.

French Navy (Nkosi Hlophe)

Tarry’s Captain Al filly Carry On Alice cruised to her third career Gr 1 in the WSB Computaform Sprint on Saturday under S’Manga Khumalo and will likely start a short-priced favourite in the defence of her Gr 1 City Of Pietermaritzburg Sprint crown on June 4. She will also race in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint, depending on the draw she is allotted. She will be sent to her breeders and part-owners Klawervlei Stud after her racing career is over. It has not yet been decided whether she will race as a five-year-old next season.

Tarry’s unbeaten Captain Al two-year-old filly Cloth Of Cloud is following in the footsteps of Carry On Alice as she landed the Gr 1 SA Nursery against the boys on Saturday after producing a devastating late finishing burst under Khumalo. Tarry is not yet sure whether she will campaign in the SA Champions Season, but said if she did the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Championships over 1200m at Scottsville on June 4 would be her only race.

Tarry said about her quirkiness, “Fortunately talent also comes with the package and the temperament can be worked with.”

Tarry’s ultra consistent four-year-old Tiger Ridge filly Trophy Wife finally landed the bold black type she so richly deserved when winning Saturday’s Gr 2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes over 2000m under Khumalo. Tarry was not sure yet whether the July would be a target of hers, although a race like the Gr 2 Gold Bracelet over 2000m on Gold Cup day would likely be on her program.

By David Thiselton

If you think racehorse trainers are a bunch of clowns, forget it! The successful ones, like five-star generals, know the strength of their troops and plan a campaign accordingly – no blood is shed but a few rands may be!

For most of the year races are spread like globs of butter, marge if you don’t fancy Prof Tim Noakes’s recommendations, with ‘feature days’ the flavour, but South Africa’s Champion’s Season is unique in that it crams some of the country’s most important races into a three-month frenzy and with those races in mind trainers plot for months.

Captain Alfredo (Nkosi Hlophe)

Scottsville’s Festival of Speed is the pinnacle of the sprint racing calendar and with four Gr1 events settled on one afternoon and likely make-or-break for the year-end Equus Awards, the first Saturday in June is cut-throat.

The Gr1 Tsogo Sun, being handicap, has its detractors but given that past winners who retire with their crown jewels intact have a good record at stud it is a race that amounts to more than just a winner’s cheque.

With the new handicap conditions in place one needs to be a boring mathematician to work out the mechanics of the weights – and most punters couldn’t give a damn anyway. But while numbers may take you to a point in handicapping they do not transcend the perceived ability of an individual. As legendary race-caller Trevor Denman commented after American Pharoah wrapped up the Triple Crown in America, handicappers were so busy with the numbers that they forgot just how good the horse was and went against him.

Captain Alfredo stamped himself a strong contender for the Gr1 Tsogo Sun as did runner-up Captain Causeway in the Listed In Full Flight Stakes at Scottsville on Sunday but as alluded to, good generals plan their attack and Captain Alfredo, as strong as his formline suggests, will find the Tsogo Sun a much tougher assignment.

Possibly of more interest are the Gr1 Alan Robertson Championship and the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Medallion.

Exquisite Touch ran well below her earlier form in the SA Fillies Nursery at Turffontein on Saturday and barring anything untoward she must be given the benefit of the doubt if indeed she takes her place in the Alan Robertson.

Red Chesnut Road (Nkosi Hlophe)

After her SA Nursery win, Sean Tarry set last Saturday’s Computaform Sprint winner Carry On Alice the task of the Gr1 Tsogo Sun Medallion where she came up just short. Given that Carry On Alice came from possibly the best three-year-old crop of fillies ever, Cloth Of Cloud could find the males a touch stronger – also given that she runs in the Medallion.

Moreover, her antics approaching the finish are of concern and given the tricky Scottsville track any hesitation before the line will cost her.

The Gold Medallion form is up in the air after Cloth Of Cloud put one over the speedy Riverine in the Nursery and some exciting KZN runners have emerged.

Robbie Hill’s charge Red Chesnut Road has simply destroyed the opposition in his two starts but given the strength of the Godolphin Barbs Stakes field the form needs to be taken with a pinch of salt even though Rob’s Jewel, close-up in a Highveld feature and a subsequent winner, was soundly beaten fourth.

Gio Ponti’s Legacy, in the Godolphin pack, did Secret Captain’s form no favours but Duncan’s Howell’s charge won so well that one can possibly add four or five lengths onto that showing.

In all it does well to sum up what’s on the horizon for a bit of an edge.

By Andrew Harrison